Ok, it started working now.

I completely removed PulseAudio and alsa-base. I further reinstalled other
alsa-until packages etc. And rebooted the machine. Things are much better
now. I heard a very load static in the beginning, but I could reduce/correct
that by fixing the volume level. In the process of removing PulseAudio
Ubuntu-desktop gets removed - I did not bother and still removed it. But
somehow things are working. I don't exactly know what I did for this to
start working - but I feel as if I am almost having a very partially working
system.

I'll test Flash, mpg and all other things and see if every sound module
interfaces fine.

Also, one more thing to be noted: I chose Autodetect in Sound Playback, HDA
Intel in Music/Movies and  Audio conferencing. But I had to choose Open
Sound Server in capture. No other combination works. This is really
frustrating. Sound should not have so much tweaking to be done. It should
work out of the box. What Ubuntu does is expecting too much from the general
user. Please fix this. PulseAudio simply does NOT work with Intel devices.
Why do we have it if it does not work. The whole project is a waste and
completely USELESS if it does not work.

Please fix all sound issues before the next release. This is shameful.

-Balaji

On Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 1:23 PM, Balaji <email address hidden>wrote:

> Selecting PulseAudio does not solve the problem for me at all.
>
> I seem to be struggling with PulseAudio. I had to uninstall Pulseaudio and
> all its components completely to be able to record anything. So in between
> for a short period recording began to work. Then again, all of a sudden,
> sound completely stopped. I can no longer hear sound now. Each time the the
> System beep occurs the speakers start a loud static noise that sounds more
> like an old radio searching for a station.
>
> I don't care and know what driver and which particular module is not
> working. SOUND IS NOT WORKING. That's the summary. The SOUND SUPPORT SUCKS.
>
> I  have been trying my best with searching all bug reports on this.
>
> Here are some details:
>
> My sound card is Intel HDA. I do see that there are some specific issues
> with this - I don't know and understand them - they are greek to me.
>
> $ uname -r
> 2.6.27-7-generic
>
> $ lspci | grep Audio
> 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio
> Controller (rev 03)
>
> Here is a link I found for this family of HD Audio controller
> http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Intel_82801H_HDA
>
> Please help. I just don't even know where to begin. This is very
> frustrating. Sound works on my other laptop which has nVIDIA HDA and in this
> one with Intel HDA, it fails miserably.
>
> -Balaji
>
>
> On Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 10:01 AM, bugmenot <email address hidden> wrote:
>
>> Confirmed on fresh install of Ubuntu Intrepid.
>>
>> Using gnome-volume-control, the sound for capture must be put close to
>> max to hear the sound properly.
>>
>> Also, like another said Selecting Pulse Audio Server solves the problem.
>>
>> --
>> erratic elapsed time count in "sound recorder"
>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/282316
>> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
>> of the bug.
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Balaji
>



-- 
Balaji